2018 September COLONY Magazine

COLONY TASTE
Americana
TASTE OF
THE COLONY COOKBOOK
During summer months
throughout the country,
families and friends are
involved in country fairs. Whether
they’re at the community, county or
state level, one thing they have in
common is food.
However, food items on the
midway are entirely different
than food items being judged for
a blue ribbon!
I judged in that area a few
times years ago, at our own Mid-
State Fair in Paso Robles (usually
I judged in the arts and crafts section).
But, I sure remember my first
time as a food judge. I was assigned
to the baking category and I started
off with a bang. I took normal
bites of cookies, brownies, cakes and
pies and very soon I was on a “sugar
high.” We were being interviewed
by a reporter from KSBY, who happened
to be a friend of mine, and
when she got to me I could hardly
talk about all those sugar-filled
entries. In fact, it was several days
before I could face anything that
had sugar in it.
Other foods that are judged, of
course, are the results of a bountiful
summer harvest. Pickles are forever
popular, and jams, jellies, and preserves
are favorites to “put-up” for
competition at the fair.
Since it is too late now for
local competition, consider “putting
up” a few jars for winter
holiday gift-giving.
Bread-and-butter pickles are
some of those old-fashioned pickles
that never go out of style. I remember
that my Grandma O’Haver’s
pantry was never without several
jars and she served them with
almost everything.
My resource this month is a
wonderful little cookbook titled
“The Country Fair Cookbook”
compiled by Alison Boteler in
1995. It has become one of my
“go-to” cookbooks for summer, even
though here in California most of
the recipes are good all year ‘round!
By Barbie Butz
I have to admit that when they
say “don’t judge a book by its cover,
I did. It has a red border (I love red)
and features a strawberry/blueberry
dessert with a true “Americana”
background. It just looked like
summer, country fairs, and all that
is good about America.
I’ve picked out a few recipes to
share. There’s really no theme except
that they are good for using
summer produce. Enjoy!
Iced
Bread-and-Butter
Pickles
Ingredients:
• 4 quarts thinly sliced cucumbers
• 8 onions, sliced
• 2 green bell peppers, split in half,
seeded and sliced
• ½ cup kosher salt
• 2 trays of ice cubes
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons turmeric
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 4 teaspoons whole mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 4 ½ cups distilled white vinegar
Bread-and-Butter-Pickles
Photo by Andrea Nguyen
Directions:
Combine cucumbers, onions, and
peppers in large bowl. Sprinkle salt
over vegetables and toss to coat.
Empty trays of ice over vegetables.
Let stand 3 hours. Drain vegetables
completely. Combine sugar, spices,
and vinegar in large kettle and bring
to boil. Reduce heat to very low and
add vegetables. Heat through but
do not allow liquid to boil. Meanwhile,
sterilize five 1-pint jars (and
loose lids) in another kettle filled
with boiling water. Turn jars and
lids upside down on clean dish towel
to drain. Ladle pickles into hot
jars; liquid should come within 1/4
–inch of top. Seal lids and process
jars in kettle of boiling water for 5
minutes. Remove jars with tongs
and cool. Once opened, pickles
must be stored in the refrigerator.
With pulled pork sandwiches
so popular these days, here’s a
delicious slaw to serve with them
that will win on two scores. Number
one, it uses some of that fresh
corn you grew this summer, and
number two, it absolutely needs to
be made hours, or a day in advance
of serving. The flavor improves
as it marinates!
Cabbage and Corn Slaw
Photo by Alex Bayley
Cabbage and
Corn Slaw
Ingredients:
• 6 cups shredded cabbage
• 2 cups cooked corn, removed
from cob
• ½ cup diced red bell pepper
• ½ cup diced green bell pepper
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup distilled white vinegar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• ½ teaspoon dry mustard
Directions:
Cook several fresh ears of corn
and cool. Slice corn kernels off of
the cob and measure 2 cups. Add
corn to shredded cabbage and red
and green bell peppers. Toss in
large bowl. Blend sugar vinegar,
oil, celery salt, pepper and dry
mustard in a separate bowl. Pour
over cabbage mixture and toss.
Cover and refrigerate several hours
or overnight to blend flavors.
Try this last recipe for Lemon
and Egg Dressing on 2 pounds of
cooked fresh green beans with 1
small red onion sliced paper-thin,
to make a delicious summer salad.
Lemon and
Egg Dressing
Ingredients:
• 5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1tablespoon sugar
•½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• 1 hard-cooked egg, finely
chopped.
Directions:
Combine all dressing ingredients
in small bowl and
whisk to blend.
Pour over green beans and red
onion in large bowl and toss well.
Cover and chill at least 3 hours to
blend flavors.
Enjoy the rest of summer!
28 | pasomagazine.com PASO Magazine, September 2018